Rugby … with cauliflower ears

Weekend predictions …

June 8, 2012by Tank

It might be cheers to Super Rugby for a few weeks, but my oath, it’s a truly monstrous weekend crammed with international rugby. Watch all this at your own peril, both on the family front, but also on the “Pimples on your arse” front as well! Industrial couch denting …

—-South Africa vs England at Kings Park, Durban – 17h00
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistants: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)Tank’s prediction: England by 2
I could just as easily have taken the less bumpy road and picked the Boks by 2, but I have a sneaky feeling that the Poms might snatch the first Test, with the Boks then kicking into gear for the next two games. Bottom line is that I think this will be a seriously close, brutal battle that could be won by either side. This is a brand new Bok side with three new caps, though, two of which are replacing perhaps the best pair of international locks ever put on a rugby field! Marcel Coetzee has been brilliant for the Sharks, but he is no Heinrich Brussow, Pierre Spies has not had a good game in a long time, and it’s in the properly physical encounters that he is most invisible, and I do not have a huge amount of faith in Zane Kirchner. This against a side who used the Six Nations to start a rebuilding phase, yet still pulled off some impressive victories. The Poms have had a few weeks off since the Aviva Premiership final, were not involved in the Heineken Cup final, and seem to have escaped the limelight while on a controversy free tour here in SA. This while the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions were smashing the stuffing out of each other just last weekend! I think it will take some time for Heyneke Meyer to mould this side …

7 Comments

You are right with the hard stuff but the first 20min will be vital for the boks! If they succeed by not giving points away they will be the winners!! That is where they will get used to one another!! I see that no of these test will be won or lost by more than 10 points!! HM said in the beginning that he just what to win this series!!

I cannot bring myself to bet against the Boks. I think they are going to surprise us with a rampant performance. The Poms won’t know what to expect from our new Locks and the likes of Etzebeth will have them on their knees whimpering! I also actually think that last weekends Super Rugby games will count in a favour.

Somebody mentioned in a previous post about “running rugby” – I always find those words fascinating because what exactly is running rugby. In the ’60′s&’70′s Natal supposedly played a brand of running rugby under the coaching of the supposed messiah of running rugby, Izak Van heerden – in that era, Natal probably lost 85% of their games – they ran alright but in circles displaying numerous fancy moves, but still lost. Under Meyer the Bulls used two, according to popular opinion, kicking fly halves (D Hougaard & Steyn) yet they have won more games then they lost, they won trophy after trophy and scored more tries than any other SA team – rugby is about possession and territory, two aspects that HM has as a priority – just as Craven, Markotter,Christie,Mallett and White did. I am sure that over the next 4 years we will see the ‘Bok side playing basic constructive rugby and scoring a lot of tries – maybe not in the next 3 weeks, but I will be surprised if it does not happen.

i actually think this side has amazing potential. Personally, I would’ve picked Lambie at 15 but then I haven’t coached any sides to super rugby glory so perhaps I’ll have to accept it. I think the 6 nations was pretty average as rugby goes so don’t think England can be judged on their performances there. I think we will win by 15 if we click or by 3-5 points if we struggle… although I’m not racing to the bookies with that…